Queens, brood maintenance and pollination have taken Tablelands couple Tom and Chloe Bidner on a whirlwind journey, deep behind the scenes of the region's key horticulture crops.
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A workplace accident in 2016 forced Tom, a diesel fitter, to rethink career options.
"People told me to read a book - but I'm not a book reader," Tom said.
"I had a background interest in bees through my Dad, so I thought I would give it a go."
Tom bought 10 hives from a beekeeper at Mena Creek near Innisfail and within six months Tommy Bee Apiaries was launched, producing a single origin, premium honey stocked in outlets across the Tablelands and Cairns.
Honey production was incidental - Tom was focused on increasing bee numbers - and a chance encounter with a blueberry grower and former schoolmate introduced Tom to the world of pollination on a far more serious scale.
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"We started small and took 20 hives and did the blueberry season which goes for six months," Tom said. "It's pretty intensive as you need to change the hives out every six to eight weeks."
Having purchased FNQ Honey and Bees, Tom and Chloe made a considerable investment in expanding numbers just in time for the avocado boom.
"For three or four years running we knocked back more pollination jobs than we were actually doing," Tom said. "We were running 500 hives and knocking back just as many in requests.
"Avocado pollination starts in mid-winter - but in cold weather the bees don't come out.
"In the months leading up to avocado pollination, we transport bees down the coast so they are in the warmer environment and the brood is stronger; like a conditioning."
Today, FNQ Honey and Bees provides pollination services to blueberries (six months), avocadoes (10 to 12 weeks) and several other smaller crops including watermelon, passionfruit, chokos and pumpkins.
"Once we arrive on farm, three-quarters of the work has been done to prepare the hives," Tom said.
"We have around 800 hives operational. Avocados is the only time of the year that every colony we have is out working on paid pollination jobs."
Tom says key to the success is being organised which involves "resting" colonies.
"The colonies rest out bush - we chase mainly eucalypt and a little bit of rainforest," he explained.
"We take them where the bush is in flower, and they generally do well.
"We choose to burn the diesel instead of the sugar, otherwise you can spend money on supplement feeding the colonies."
Tom and Chloe use a mix of private property, state apiary sites and road reserves on state-controlled roads, all under agreement and permits, from Lakeland in the north, west to the Lynd and south to Innisfail.
As the only managed pollinators, bees play a vital role in ensuring tree crops flower and produce a crop.
"In the last year we have picked up a few farms that have never pollinated before," Chloe said.
"Historically, some farmers have been able to rely on wild colonies from the bush to pollinate their tree crops. And the feedback is that they have noticed there is less bees in the bush."
Like any animal husbandry, management is important - albeit on a smaller scale.
"Every five to six weeks we inspect the broods," Tom said. "The health of a colony is determined by reproduction. If the colony is not making bees, that's a sign that it's not healthy.
"The queen needs enough room to lay - but too much honey coming in can decrease her nest size."
The business growth has prompted Chloe to scale back her outside work commitments.
"When Tom started I said - that's your thing," Chloe said. "But it's just snowballed."
A defining moment came last year when Chloe secured agreements to supply all Coles supermarkets in Far North Queensland.
The supermarket giant now takes 70 per cent of FNQ Honey and Bees annual honey production - some 20 tonnes - to sell in its stores at Innisfail, Mareeba and eight stores in Cairns.
"When we bought FNQ Honey they supplied Coles Innisfail so that was a big foot in the door," Chloe said. "We could see the opportunity to expand - and after a long two-year journey, we secured the additional stores."
